IITs Estimate Cost of Improving Global Rankings: Rs. 22,000 Crore

Highlights:
According to the report submitted by IITs, it would cost Rs. 22,000 crore to the government over a span of five years.

Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have submitted an estimated cost to the government regarding ‘Project Vishwajeet’, an initiative of HRD Ministry which aims at catapulting the IITs to the top league of global academic rankings. According to the report submitted by IITs, it would cost Rs. 22,000 crore to the government over a span of five years.

Directors of seven IITs including Madras, Roorkee, Delhi, Kanpur, Mumbai, Kharagpur and Guwahati met the officials of HRD Ministry on October 20, 2016, and sought Rs. 21,870 crore as an investment to improve their infrastructure, international outlook, faculty and research facilities to break into top 100 club of global university rankings by 2018 and top 50 by 2020.

The directors of the institutes mentioned that the government felt that the estimated budget was too much and advised to find the alternate ways of raising funds. Currently, the government is studying the submitted proposals and has not responded so far. However, it is high time for the government to provide funds to seven old IITs for the improvement of infrastructure and other facilities.